Turning Trash into Treasure: KAIST's Breakthrough in Chemical Tire Recycling

Every year, billions of tires are discarded globally, clogging landfills and leaching toxic substances into the environment. But what if these stubborn waste materials could be transformed into valuable resources? A new chemical recycling technology developed by researchers at KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) is doing exactly that—converting used tires into raw materials for rubber and nylon with high efficiency and selectivity.

Tire Recycling Catalysis

The Recycling Problem and the Catalytic Solution

Tires are made of synthetic and natural rubber, reinforced with fillers like silica and carbon black, and hardened via vulcanization—a process that creates a durable, heat-resistant crosslinked structure. These properties make tires ideal for vehicles but notoriously hard to recycle. Traditional methods like pyrolysis require high temperatures (350–800°C) and produce low-quality fuel oil with high energy costs.

Enter the KAIST team, led by Professor Soonhyuk Hong, who developed a dual-catalyst continuous reaction system that converts waste rubber into high-value cyclic alkenes—specifically cyclopentene and cyclohexene. These compounds can be used as raw materials for producing new rubber and nylon fibers, respectively. The innovation, published in the journal Chem, achieves a selectivity of up to 92% and a yield of 82%—a dramatic leap forward from previous approaches.

How the Catalytic Recycling Works

The chemical recycling process employs two distinct catalysts: one that breaks down the complex rubber polymer chains by modifying their bonding structure, and another that catalyzes a ring-closing reaction to form cyclic alkenes. Unlike high-temperature thermal decomposition, this method uses lower temperatures and delivers precision in chemical conversion.

Notably, the team validated their approach using actual discarded tires, not just lab-made samples. This shows the technique's promise for real-world application and scalability in industrial recycling systems.

Toward a Circular Rubber Economy

This innovation is not just a step toward greener chemistry—it’s a foundation for a resource-circulating economy. Because it works on multiple kinds of synthetic rubbers, the technology is adaptable to a wide variety of rubber-based waste. The researchers are now working on developing next-generation high-efficiency catalysts and preparing the system for commercial deployment.

"Our goal is to contribute to solving the waste plastic problem through basic chemistry," said Professor Hong. The research signals a new era where even the most chemically complex waste products can become raw materials for future industries.

To read the original article, visit: https://phys.org/news/2025-06-highly-efficient-recycling-technology-raw.html

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#RecyclingInnovation #GreenChemistry #Catalysis #SustainableMaterials #RubberRecycling #TireRecycling #KAIST #CircularEconomy #MaterialsScience #QuantumServerNetworks #PWmat

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